Japan’s devastating attack on Pearl Harbor and Oahu aroused emotions in America as no other event in its history ever had, the authors of “At Dawn We Slept” wrote.
“The American people reeled with a mind-staggering mixture of surprise, awe, mystification, grief, humiliation and, above all, cataclysmic fury,” Gordon W. Prange, Donald M. Goldstein and Katherine V. Dillon said in their landmark account of Pearl Harbor.
Japan had struck without a formal declaration of war.
President Franklin D. Roosevelt briefed lawmakers the day of the attack that “we think we got some of their submarines, but we don’t know. … We know some Japanese planes were shot down.”
“Hell’s fire, didn’t we do anything?” shot back an angry Sen. Tom Connally of Texas.
Newspaper editorials pointed fingers of blame at the evils of the Japanese empire. “Oh, the dishonesty and trickery of it all,” fumed the Augusta (Ga.) Chronicle.
But through it all also ran the thread of relief “that the onus of aggression rested upon the Axis” and that “the isolationist-interventionalist cleavage (in America) had fused into unity,” Prange and the others said.
Although the nation had been edging ever closer to fighting in World War II, America previously was divided by those who wanted to remain free of the growing European war and those who wanted to aid or join the fight with the British.
Now, with Japan’s surprise attack, America was formally at war.
Roosevelt went to Congress on Dec. 8, 1941, and spoke of Japan’s “treachery” in the “premeditated invasion.” The Senate voted unanimously in support of war. The only vote of dissent was cast in the House by Montana pacifist Jeannette Rankin.
Three days later Germany and Italy declared war on the United States.
Japan had also attacked the Philippines, Wake Island, Guam, Midway, Singapore, Hong Kong, Malaya and Thailand.
Just after Pearl Harbor a Gallup poll found that 97 percent of Americans approved of Congress’ declaration of war against Japan.
Germany had invaded Western Europe in May 1940, and many Americans were shocked as France fell that summer, leaving worries that fascism could conquer Great Britain and all of Europe.
Until Pearl Harbor the debate over whether the United States should help the British more or enter the war “raged throughout the nation, from the White House and halls of Congress, to bars, beauty parlors, offices and classrooms,” said Lynne Olson in “Those Angry Days.”
After the Oahu raid, one-third of Americans were worried about Japanese attacks on the U.S. mainland, according to Gallup.
“Remember Pearl Harbor” would become a rallying cry to avenge the losses, buy war bonds, enlist in the armed forces and to stay strong in the fight.
Much has been written about the Japanese Embassy’s delivery of a “Final Memorandum” to Secretary of State Cordell Hull after the Pearl Harbor attack in which Japan said it was “impossible to reach an agreement through further negotiations.”
In fact, Roosevelt had received 13 parts of the 14-part message the night before thanks to the ability to read Japanese diplomatic code via the top secret “Magic” program.
Roosevelt had said words to the effect that “this means war” on Dec. 6, 1941, but he tempered that thought the next morning when the 14th part came in, stating instead that he thought the Japanese were severing relations, according to “At Dawn We Slept.” Japan did not declare war in the memo. Leading historians believe Roosevelt may have foreseen Japan attacking in Southeast Asia — but not at Pearl Harbor.
Former Japanese Ambassador Takeo Iguchi discovered papers in the Foreign Ministry archive pointing to Japanese army and navy leaders softening the Final Memorandum and taking out wording stating America would “be held responsible for any and all the consequences that may arise in the future” — language seen as indicating war.
Japan’s military also was seen as causing a delay in the delivery of the message to the United States to ensure the element of surprise. After Japan attacked Pearl Harbor, imperial headquarters in Tokyo proclaimed a state of war with the United States and British Empire.
